Not every family decides to freeze apples for the winter. However, if you know how to properly freeze apples for the winter, you can provide yourself with vitamins all year round. From frozen fruits you can make both a delicious pie and puree for your child.
Properly prepared fruits will delight you with their taste and benefits. As a rule, apples are frozen both in pieces and in whole form. Some practical advice will help you prepare fruits correctly:
- Always choose fresh apples. The fruits should not be wrinkled and without wormholes. Use ripe fruits of any variety.
- To prevent apple preparations from darkening during freezing, they should first be soaked in cool water with citric acid.
- Frozen pieces will take up less space in the freezer. Before the freezing procedure, the ingredients are thoroughly washed and dried. Otherwise, you will end up with a solid lump of stuck together slices. Be sure to cut out the core with seeds.
- It is better to put the fruits in special freezing bags or containers. So that they lose less moisture, they should be packed tightly to each other.
- The ideal freezing temperature is minus 18 degrees. The shelf life is up to 12 months.
It is not allowed to re-freeze fruits or store them for more than a year. If the volume of the freezer allows, it is better to isolate them from vegetables and other products.
Recipes for freezing apples in the freezer for the winter
One of the most popular ways to freeze apples is in the form of slices. Chopped ingredients do not take up much space in the freezer and are convenient to store. How to freeze apples for the winter in the freezer will help step by step recipe. The amount of fruit depends on the volume of the freezer.
Ingredients:
- apples of any variety – 3 kg;
- citric acid – 7 g;
- freezer bags.
Rinse the specified amount of apples with running water and dry with a towel. Next, cut to remove the seed part and stalk. It is not necessary to cut off the peel. Especially if the preparations are intended for compote. Cut into slices or beautiful circles.
Dissolve citric acid in a small amount of water and immerse the chopped apples. The procedure is necessary to prevent darkening of the pulp and the pieces are better preserved.
Next, dry the slices on a cloth napkin. Spread parchment paper on a large baking sheet and carefully place the chopped ingredients. It is important to ensure that they do not touch each other. Place the preparations in the freezer.
After 2.5 - 3 hours, remove the pieces and transfer them to a freezer bag. The less air gets into the storage container, the better the taste and benefits of the fruit will be preserved. Store packaged frozen apples for the winter for 6 - 8 months.
Entirely
Freezing fresh apples in their entirety is not new, but rarely does anyone use this method. In winter, you want to get the maximum benefit, and store-bought fruits contain nitrates. Blast freezing of country apples preserves all vitamins and allows them to be widely used in various dishes.
Ingredients:
- fresh apples – 1.5 kg;
- ascorbic acid – 10 g;
- drinking water – 50 ml.
Wash the apples and dry thoroughly. Since the fruit is frozen whole, the peel does not need to be cut off. However, you can carefully cut out the core with a thin knife, maintaining the integrity of the apple.
Dissolve ascorbic acid in water and immerse the fruit for 20 minutes. The solution will help maintain the light color of the pulp.
Dry before freezing; it is advisable to place each fruit in a separate small freezer bag. Don't forget to release the air from the bag. Remove whole fruits freezer.
It is permissible to store apple preparations in their entirety for no more than six months at a temperature of –18–20°C.
For filling pies and charlotte
Frozen apples significantly save time and simplify the cooking process. It is enough to defrost prepared and peeled fruits. The recipe is useful for making charlotte or sweet buns.
Ingredients:
- fresh apples – 7 pcs.;
- citric acid – 5 g;
- filtered water – 1 l;
- sealed freezer bags.
Wash the aromatic apples and cut them into pieces. It is necessary to remove the stalks and the core with seeds. Grind into circles or slices.
Prepare an acidic solution. To do this, mix citric acid with water. You can use natural lemon juice. Place the apple pieces into the resulting solution. Leave for 15 – 20 minutes.
After the specified time, place the ingredients on flat surface, dry. Place dry slices in sealed bags or containers. Place in the freezer and shake the bag after 30 minutes to prevent the slices from sticking together. Frozen apples for the winter for charlotte and sweet pies can be used at any time.
For complementary feeding
If the complementary feeding period coincides with the cold season, you should take care of the quality of food in advance. Frozen apples from the garden are good for kids because they retain more than 90% of all vitamins. For baby food, use green apples for the first time; they do not cause allergies.
Ingredients:
- fresh apples – 10 pcs.;
- water – 70 ml;
- containers for freezing.
Rinse the fruits and wipe dry. Cut out the core; seeds are not allowed to get into the workpiece. Cut the prepared fruit into squares.
Next, prepare the applesauce. To do this, place the ingredients in an enamel pan and put on fire. To prevent the apples from burning, add a small amount of water. Do not add sugar. Simmer the apple pieces over low heat until they boil into a thick mass. Cook for 25 - 30 minutes, then let cool at room temperature.
Treat the containers with boiling water, add applesauce, and close the lids tightly. Place the preparations for complementary feeding in the freezer. The shelf life of frozen applesauce is no more than a year. Usually the blanks are used no later than after 9 months.
In sugar syrup
Apples frozen in sugar syrup are well suited for preparing sweet dishes. The blanks are also used for filling pies or compote.
Ingredients:
- apples – 1.5 kg;
- water – 3 glasses;
- sugar – 2 cups.
Wash the fruits, cut into slices, remove the seeds. Place in a deep bowl.
Prepare sweet syrup. Dissolve sugar in water and pour the resulting syrup over the apple slices. It is important that the liquid completely covers them. Cover the contents of the bowl tightly with a plate or lid. The components should be soaked for 5 - 7 minutes.
Pack in a thin layer in sealed bags, releasing excess air from the container. Place in the freezer, the freezing temperature should be minus 18 - 20 degrees. The shelf life of winter preparations does not exceed 12 months.
Freezing apples for the winter – one of the best ways make your winter diet more healthy and rich in vitamins. Due to their low cost and ease of preparation, these fruits are widely used in cooking. Thrifty housewives know dozens of dishes made from frozen apples that will benefit the body weakened by the winter cold.
Did you know?The record holders for vitamin content are unripe green apples. When they begin to change color, the amount of vitamins decreases significantly.
What varieties of apples are best for freezing?
Before learning how to freeze apples for the winter, you need to find out which varieties are suitable for this purpose.
The optimal solution would be to use autumn and winter varieties with a sweet and sour taste - Antonovka, Glory to the winners, Golden, Richard, Kutuzovets, Sinap, etc. The fruits are perfectly preserved at low temperatures.
In order to find out whether apples of a certain variety are suitable for freezing, you can follow the following simple procedure: The peeled fruit should be placed on the middle shelf of the refrigerator for 10 minutes. If its surface does not darken, you can safely put the apples in the freezer.
Preparing apples for freezing
Before freezing, apples should be thoroughly washed in a large container or under running water. Then you should wipe each fruit dry. How to cut apples depends on which freezing method you choose.
Ways to freeze apples for the winter
Every housewife is looking for an answer to the question: “Is it possible to freeze apples for the winter in such a way as to preserve most of the beneficial properties?”
Did you know?When properly frozen, the fruits retain 90% of the vitamins and microelements of their original composition.
We bring to your attention the most popular recipes for freezing apples for the winter.
Clean, dry apples are cored with a knife or special tool. You can do without removing, but this will save time if you need seedless fruits. You can also leave the peel as it can be easily removed from frozen fruit. The apples are placed in bags, air is removed from them as much as possible and sealed tightly before being sent to the freezer.
Important!With this method of freezing, fruits take up a lot of space in the freezer.
Freezing in slices
Apples, peeled, seeds and partitions, are divided into 8 parts. The resulting slices can be frozen on trays first to prevent them from sticking together. After that, they are poured into bags and placed in the freezer.
Important!If you plan to make compote from the cloves, you should not cut off the peel - the drink will be more aromatic.
The essence of this freezing method is that the apple slices must first be placed on a baking sheet or tray covered with paper and frozen for 2-3 hours. At the same time, make sure that the pieces do not touch and lie in one layer. After a couple of hours, the frozen slices are packed into airtight containers or freezer bags and placed in the freezer for long-term storage. This way they will not stick together and will be easy to separate from each other.
Freezing in syrup
To prepare syrup in three glasses cold water(0.75 l) dissolve two glasses of sugar. Dip small pieces of apples into the resulting mixture. Slices soaked in syrup are packaged in bags and sent to the freezer.
Did you know?Frozen apples with sugar are great for smoothies and cold sweet dishes.
Frozen applesauce
To make frozen applesauce you need:
- 300 g granulated sugar;
- 5 g citric acid;
- 1 kg apple puree.
First you need to prepare the puree. To do this, boil washed, sliced apples (with peel, seeds and membranes) in a saucepan, adding a little water. Dissolve sugar in the hot mixture and add citric acid to prevent it from darkening. All the contents of the pan are thoroughly mixed and ground through a sieve. After cooling completely, the puree is placed in molds of suitable containers and frozen.
What is the shelf life of frozen apples?
No matter how many fruits the owners plan to prepare, frozen apples can be stored for six months to a year. An indispensable condition– the temperature in the freezer should not exceed -18 °C.
How to use frozen apples
There are many recipes for dishes made from frozen apples in cooking. In most cases, they are used in the same way as fresh fruits to prepare:
- pies, pies, bagels, cookies, donuts and other baked goods;
- compotes and cocktails;
- fruit salads and jellies;
- whole roasting;
- stuffing poultry (duck, goose, turkey);
- pancakes, pancakes.
- 4 eggs;
- 1 tbsp. flour;
- 1 tbsp. Sahara;
- 4 things. frozen apples or a few handfuls of frozen slices;
- vanilla sugar to taste.
Is it possible to freeze apples for the winter? It often happens that autumn turns out to be a rich harvest, and a desire arises stock up on fruit for the year ahead. But there is a danger that if the fruits are not properly cold-treated, they will simply will spoil.
Are apples and pears frozen? Freezing several apples different from freezing berries, therefore, if all technologies are followed, autumn fruits will be stored in the freezer for a whole year.
Basic Rules
The most important subject is large capacity freezer, in this case, the fruits will retain all vitamins and nutrients in full.
Is it possible to freeze apples in the freezer? At poor refrigeration capacity It will not be possible to produce the necessary supplies for a long time.
Apples for freezing must be ripe, undamaged.
When freezing overripe, rotten fruits, there is a possibility that after thawing they will turn into unappetizing puree. Preference should be given to recently picked apples, because the less time has passed from picking to processing, the better.
About the benefits
Is it possible to freeze apples for the winter? Which benefit from them? Charlotte, apple pies, strudel, compote, various desserts and much more - all this will be available for preparation at any time of the year. All clean, environmentally friendly and already chopped.
But the main advantage is hold all properties, fresh apple. After all, it is freezing that preserves the maximum amount of vitamins in products, about 90%.
Is it possible to freeze apples and pears for the winter and why? Many fresh fruits lose almost all their vitamins by the end of winter, so frozen fruits provide an opportunity in the spring support immunity.
Slicing methods
What is the best way to freeze slices, whole apples, or another way? Can be frozen as whole fruits, so slices. It can even be frozen applesauce. When frozen, apples are cut into slices.
In this case, the shape can be any: slices, slices, pieces, circles. Removing the peel, stalk and seeds is a matter of taste for every housewife. It all depends on the purpose for which the preparation is made.
If for pies and compotes - quite the presence of peel is acceptable, then for fruit sauces, casseroles and similar dishes it is, of course, better to do without peel.
Everyone knows the property of apples that darken after cutting, but this can be avoided.
Needs to be prepared in advance solution(1 liter of water + 5 g of citric acid).
After cutting, immerse the slices for no more than 20 minutes in this composition, which will save them from darkening. You can freeze apples alone or mix them with various berries and fruits.
Required temperature
How to freeze fresh apples at home? At what temperature Is it possible to freeze apples for the winter? There are several methods of freezing: dry and so-called shock.
Dry– the fruits are placed on trays and sent to the freezer. Temperature not less than -23°C. 2-3 hours after freezing, the apples are placed in containers. After this, the frozen pieces can be stored in a regular freezer at a temperature of at least -18°C.
Blast freezing- This is ultra-fast freezing of apples in bags. To do this, you must set the “fast freezing” mode in the freezer operating mode.
Shelf life of frozen apples
How long can apples be stored in the freezer? If all the rules are followed correctly, frozen apples can be stored in the freezer up to 12 months, maintaining all its properties.
Please remember that re-freezing prohibited.
Freezing methods
What are the ways to freeze apples for the winter at home? There are several methods for freezing apples.
Slices
Cut the apples into slices, remove the seeds and stem (but you can also freeze them with seeds).
Place the sliced apples on dry cutting boards or trays.
The slices should not touch each other and lie in one layer. And immediately put it all in the freezer.
After 2-3 hours you can start packaging. Carefully removed slices are laid out in plastic bags or containers in small portions.
When packing in a bag, you need to make sure that there is as little air inside as possible. If packaging occurs in plastic containers, then correctly close very tightly to prevent air and moisture from getting inside.
In sugar syrup
Boil the syrup (mix 750 g of water with 450 g of sugar and 1500 mg ascorbic acid). Cut apples into slices soak in cold syrup for a day. After this, blanch the pieces (pour boiling water over them), place them on baking sheets and cool them in the freezer.
Then put it into bags, with minimum amount of air. Apples prepared in this way have the aroma of baked apples and are a good dessert.
And the shelf life of such apples is increased due to the use citric acid, which acts as a preservative.
Preparation of puree
Peel and chop the apples; you don’t need to add sugar. cook for 15 – 20 minutes on low heat. Cool, grind in a blender, pour into plastic containers or jars. So, ready-made pie filling is always in the refrigerator.
Whole frozen
Dip the fruit into a specially prepared solution ascorbic acid(50 g water + 1500 mg acid) for a few minutes.
After this, put the apple in a special freezer bag, after releasing the air from there.
An apple frozen in this way can stay in the freezer for six months. maintaining all its useful qualities. Such fruits are used in cooking for such dishes as apples in dough or whole apples baked with sugar.
Of course, frozen fruit saves a lot of time for any housewife, so you should definitely take some time in the fall to enjoy almost fresh apples until the new harvest.
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Agree that fresh berries and fruits grown on your own personal plot, much healthier and more natural than those that are found in abundance on store shelves in the winter. Unfortunately, it is not always possible to preserve homemade goodies until spring. Therefore, many housewives are wondering how to stock up on vitamins, in addition to using in various ways preparing compotes, jams and other preserves from fresh raw materials. For example, is it possible? After all, you want to have almost fresh preparations on hand. How can you get frozen fruit? The recipes presented in this article will help you stock up on vitamin raw materials for the long winter. In addition, the resulting semi-finished product will hardly differ in its beneficial properties from fresh apples.
- After thoroughly washing the berries and fruits, let the water drain in a colander or dry them with a paper towel.
- It is best to freeze in the form of a crushed mass, completely ready for further adding to a dish.
- For packaging, both special containers, molds, and simple plastic bags are used. Try to keep as little air in them as possible.
- Some fruit pieces, such as peaches and apricots, are filled with sugar syrup in ramekins to prevent browning.
- Label each piece so you know exactly what's inside the container. It is also advisable to indicate the date the products were placed in the chamber.
- The shelf life depends on the temperature in the freezer. With the selected mode down to -10-12 °C, fruits can be stored for 1-2 months, at low temperatures - up to 8-10 months.
Is it possible to freeze whole apples?
Under the influence of low temperatures, the structure of the product changes somewhat, which after thawing becomes soft and not so juicy. For this reason, further cutting of fruits will simply be impossible. Therefore, before placing them in the freezer, divide the apples at least in half and remove the core.
Freezing as sliced mass
Usually frozen fruits are used for cooking immediately after extraction. Therefore, many housewives wonder whether it is convenient and possible to freeze apples cut into pieces? Of course, this processing method is the most practical. After all, the fruit mass does not even need to be defrosted before pouring it into the pan, for example, when cooking compote. Before storing in the freezer, wash the apples and chop them into slices. average size. Often the fruits are peeled. Then pour the mixture into a weak salt solution (10-12 g per 1 l) so that the apples do not darken. After draining excess liquid in a colander, transfer the pieces to a bag or container. Close the container tightly and place in the freezer for storage.
Is it possible to freeze applesin the form of fresh fruit puree?
An excellent option for preparing the filling for pies is to pre-grind the fruits using a meat grinder or blender. The main thing is to do this quickly so that the mass does not acquire a brownish tint. Therefore, prepare in small portions, immediately placing it after grinding in containers into the chamber with the fast freezing mode set. Store raw materials prepared in this way for no more than 2-3 months. The resulting vitamin semi-finished product will be an excellent treat for your baby. Simply boil the puree for 1-2 minutes, allowing the product to first thaw at room temperature until crystalline.
In the beautiful autumn season, it’s time to make sure that you have something to please your family on winter evenings: aromatic tea with jam or a fragrant pie with pieces of apples.
And more and more housewives in this matter give preference to freezing berries and fruits, because they will contain much more vitamins and useful microelements than in heat-treated fruits, that is, in the same jam or canned compote.
Freezing berries at home is no longer a novelty, but not everyone freezes apples for the winter. But in vain, because this storage method has significant advantages:
- Frozen fruits will retain vitamins and microelements, and during cooking there are many useful substances gets lost;
- Having made the preparation, you will always be sure that the fruit has not been subjected to any chemical treatment, which cannot be said about the same apples from the store, which look suspiciously “fresh” even when a new crop has already ripened on the tree branches, and they are still lying around on store shelves;
- You will significantly facilitate and speed up the subsequent process of preparing your favorite dishes, since the fruits will already be prepared (washed, peeled and cut).
For freezing, choose any apples of sweet and sour varieties, but you need to know that the taste and texture of these fruits will change slightly after defrosting. To make pies, it is better to take Jonathan and Golden Delicious apples, since they will retain their shape best, but the Fuji or Gala varieties will retain their sweet taste.
Freezing rules
To successfully freeze fruit for the winter, you need to follow a few simple rules:
- With You should choose fresh, ripe, dense and not deformed fruits;
- before freezing, apples must be washed and dried, since undried slices will stick together when frozen, and instead of neat and beautiful slices you will get one incomprehensible lump;
- frozen fruits must be placed in an airtight container or plastic bag as densely as possible (the denser they are laid, the less moisture they will lose and, accordingly, the better they will retain their properties).
Thawed fruits can no longer be re-frozen, so care must be taken in advance to ensure that the portions of frozen fruit are not very large, sufficient for use at one time.
Before freezing at home, apples must be washed, stems and cores removed, peeled (this is not necessary; frozen slices can also be peeled later) and cut into pieces. The shape and size of the pieces (slices, circles or cubes) can be chosen at your discretion.
Preparing apples for freezing
So, small cubes will take up less space in the freezer and allow you to make more supplies. And apples cut into circles or slices will have a more aesthetic appearance and are perfect not only as a filling, but also for decorating pies and rolls.
To prevent the slices from darkening when frozen, they are kept in salted or acidified water for 15 minutes. This will not affect the taste, but will prevent oxidation and help maintain an attractive appearance.
An important role when storing such winter preparations is played by the temperature maintained by the freezer. The most suitable temperature for freezing is -18ºС. In this case, frozen fruit will be stored for up to 1 year. At temperatures from 0 ºС to -8 ºС, storage of apples is reduced to only three months.
To ensure that your summer preparations can please you longer, follow these simple rules:
- Do not store frozen food for too long;
- sign the date of freezing and the variety used;
- Keep fruits separate from vegetables.
Freezing in slices
- Dry the prepared apples thoroughly on a towel;
- after that, carefully place the slices on a baking sheet, cutting board or a tray covered with cellophane film so that the slices do not touch each other. The use of cellophane is in principle not necessary, however, it significantly helps to collect frozen slices (if you decide to do without it, be sure to make sure that the surface on which you will lay the fruits is completely dry);
- place the laid out slices in the freezer for 2 – 3 hours;
- collect frozen slices in bags or containers and place in the freezer for storage.
This freezing method allows you to store fruit for 9 – 12 months.
Apples in syrup
- prepare sugar syrup by taking 2 parts sugar to 3 parts water;
- pour the syrup over the prepared apples, making sure it completely covers the slices (you can lightly press them down with a lid or plate);
- After 3 - 5 minutes, remove the slices and place them in a thin layer in a bag and place them in the freezer.
Such fruits can be stored for up to 12 months.
Freezing in sugar
- prepare apples and sugar, using 2/3 cup sugar for every 3 cups of fruit;
- Place the fruits cut into slices and soaked in acidified water in a saucepan, sprinkling with sugar;
- Gently mix the fruit with sugar;
- Place the resulting mixture in bags or food containers and place it in the freezer.
These fruits can be stored for up to 12 months.
Frozen applesauce
- Peel the washed apples, remove the stem and core, cut into small pieces;
- place them in an aluminum or enamel pan and place on low heat (sugar is not needed in this case);
- simmer the fruit until the puree becomes thick enough;
- pour the resulting puree into containers, close the lid tightly, and place in the freezer.
The resulting puree should be used within 9–12 months.
Apples, frozen whole
- Dry well-washed fruits thoroughly with a towel;
- do not cut the apples. If you want to use peeled fruits, then place them in acidified water and dry;
- carefully place the fruit in a container, bag or wrap in cling film;
- Place in the freezer to freeze and store.
This product should be stored for no more than 6 months.
So, you have decided on how to freeze the apples. And if you are not going to freeze them whole or prepare puree, then you need to take care that they retain their snow-white appearance and do not darken. To do this, it is important to follow several rules:
- Prepare fruit in small batches: you shouldn’t peel a lot of fruits at once so that they don’t have time to darken while you cut the slices;
- Immediately immerse the cut slices in acidified water (5 g of citric acid is required per 1 liter of water);
- instead of acidified water, salted water is also suitable (30 g of salt is used for 4 liters of water), which will also help avoid oxidation and perfectly preserve the fruits.
What can you then cook from these apples?
You can prepare quite a large number of different dishes from frozen apples:
- If you froze whole fruits, then they are well suited for baking either whole or in halves (for piquancy, add a filling of nuts, honey, cottage cheese, or just sprinkle sugar on top);
- apples in sugar are an excellent base for a sweet dessert, smoothie or cocktail;
- Applesauce is used for filling pies, buns, as a baby's first fruit food, or in preparing various sauces. It will also be a substitute for butter or jam in sweet sandwiches, and if you love making marshmallows, marshmallows or sorbet, then puree will help make these sweets not only tasty, but also quite quick to prepare;
- if you add frozen berries (cherries, strawberries or raspberries) to the apple slices, and use lemon juice for flavor, you will get an excellent compote;
- apple slices can be used as filling and decoration for pies, charlotte, cakes, muffins and strudels. Appetizing and satisfying pancakes are made with this filling.
- Frozen apples will not only be part of a dessert or baked goods, but also an addition to savory dishes: a filling for a baked duck or a component of a holiday salad. They also make savory sauces for meat dishes.
Defrost fruit slowly. You can put the dishes with apples in the refrigerator and wait until they are completely defrosted.
Freezing apples is not at all difficult, as it seems at first glance. By devoting a little time to this simple procedure, you will not only save a piece of summer, but also use its gifts to benefit yourself and your family!